The ceremony introducing the new general manager to the media and team staff was held indoors, sort of, at Chargers Park. Unnecessary cover was provided by a large party tent located directly adjacent to an outdoor, Olympic-sized, sun-splashed swimming pool, fully functional and inviting, even on a dead-of-winter afternoon

Through a hundred or so questions, on camera and off, the 40-year-old Telesco maintained the cool, executive demeanor you’d expect of a man who’d just been handed the keys to a National Football League team. No matter how wobbly the wheels, no matter how deeply into disrepair the Chargers have fallen, Telesco made it look as if nothing seemed too difficult.

Well, actually, there was that one thing. The text message from 2,600 miles away.

“My dad just sent it,” said Telesco. “It choked me up a bit.”

Indeed, even before he could utter those few words, Telesco had to gather himself. Privately, undramatically, touchingly, he lowered his head and clenched his teeth for more than a few seconds, breathing deeply to keep from losing it.

“I’m so close to him,” continued Telesco, now completely composed. “He’s so happy about this. My mom passed away a while back. My dad’s my dad, but also my role model. I just always wanted to be like him.”

Dominic Telesco was a career guidance counselor who sent his only son to a private boys’ school in Athol Springs, N.Y. a few miles south of Buffalo and hard by Lake Erie. It was at St. Francis High that Tom Telesco first made the acquaintance of the Polian family, an association that set him on the path that’s led him to San Diego and one of only 32 such jobs in the NFL.

“I’m sure a lot of people are saying “Who is Tom Telesco?” “ said Jerry Smith, the longtime football coach at St. Francis. “He comes from a different environment. He’s a blue-collar guy, an under-the-radar guy.”

That changed the other day. Drastically.

While his talent-assessment skills made him very much a contributor to the Indianapolis Colts’ great success over the past 15 years, Telesco was strictly a behind-the-scenes guy in Indy’s scouting department, kept largely unavailable to the media. Indeed, the NFL is the ultimate control freak, well-represented by its shield of a logo.

For the first time, though, Telesco is right out front and center. Until he picks a new head coach, at least, he is the face and the voice of a franchise that should be desperate to win back its constituency after three years without a postseason.

For his part, Telesco was open and engaging at first meeting, seeming comfortable enough in the spotlight. (The married father of three preferred, however, that no one in his family be interviewed just yet.) The words most frequently assigned to him have been “humble” and “honest.” The real challenge to his credibility comes when he tells people he really is 40 years old, not 10 years younger.

“Tom’s youthful look could be disarming for some people, which is good,” said Smith. “You talk to him and realize he knows his business. He’ll always tell you the truth and he’ll always look you in the eye when he’s telling you it.”

Telesco went to both high school and college with two sons of Bill Polian, who then was general manager of a Buffalo Bills team that reached four Super Bowls, although winning none of them. The elder Polian, became mentor to Telesco and made him a part of his later success with the Carolina Panthers and Colts.

St. Francis High has become a launchpad for NFL executives who could be called the “Polian Pack.” Roughly 24 hours before the Chargers named Telesco the successor to A.J. Smith, the Jacksonville Jaguars gave their GM position to 38-year-old David Caldwell, yet another St. Francis High product who came under Polian’s wide wing and developed his scouting chops with the Panthers and Colts.

Telesco played football at John Carroll University, near Cleveland, as did Polian’s sons Chris and Brian. The latter was just named head coach at the University of Nevada and the former — who was VP/GM of the Colts until he and his team-president father were fired after the tumultuous 2-14 season of 2011 — is reportedly soon to join Caldwell in the Jags’ front office.

Small world? It gets smaller.

St. Francis High is also the alma mater of Kyle Smith, the son of A.J. Smith, the fired general manager whom Telesco is replacing in San Diego.

“A little school in little Athol Springs,” said Smith, “and all of them came from St. Francis High.”

Telesco played basketball and wide receiver at St. Francis. Despite having a frame that Smith compared to a “twig,” Telesco impressed the coach with his blocking and ability to shake first tackles as much as his pass-catching skills.

Headed for the NFL

By the time he got to John Carroll, Telesco had perfected some of his skills, and in the process he showed a knack for scouting other players. He spent his summers as an intern with the Bills, doing whatever menial chore needed to be done, but also paying close attention to what was taking place in drills and scrimmages.

“He was a skinny, skinny guy, not impressive physically,” said Case Western Reserve University head coach Greg Debeljak, who was Telesco’s position coach at John Carroll. “Mentally, he had a huge advantage. His technique and understanding of the game was just way ahead of everybody else. I found out later that he was working for the Bills, picking things up from watching their receivers.

“I remember vividly us doing goal-line drills once a week. The corners would play press (tight defense) and our guys would try to get off the line. Nobody could stop him. He had a move that nobody could stop. I go, ‘Tom, where did you learn this move?’ He said, ‘Andre Reed.’ ”

Reed, a longtime Bills receiver, is presently a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Debeljak knew that with graduation — and with his contacts, and with his discerning eye — Telesco was headed straight for the NFL. Polian had moved on to an expansion team in Carolina, where Telesco was hired as a scouting assistant, steadily hitting almost every rung as he climbed to vice-president status with the Colts.

“I know what the guy driving the players back and forth from the hotel to the facility feels like, because I’ve done that,” said Telesco. “I know what the college scouts go through, being on the road, by themselves, scouting players, eating by themselves.

“I’ve been through that. I know what they’re going through. That builds relationships.”

The relationship with the Polians was put to the test last year. Colts owner Jim Irsay dismissed the father and son, essentially cleaning house, simultaneously promoting Telesco from director of pro scouting to VP of football operations.

“It wasn’t easy, especially when I came back and the parking lot was empty,” said Telesco. “What made it easier was, (Colts owner) Jim Irsay was really, really good to me, but it was hard … They’re almost like family to me. To see (the Polians) not there anymore …

“At the same time, you get immune to it in this business. Players come and go. Coaches come and go. Front-office people come and go. You get over it pretty quick. That doesn’t make it right, but that’s the way of sports.”

Sports. Plural.

Strategies, philosophies

Jason McLeod doesn’t remember quite how their first contact came about, but he was the director of scouting for the Boston Red Sox when he began communicating with Telesco, then the Colts’ director of college scouting. They began to compare notes, not on players, but on the process of evaluating them.

Never mind that their games and requirements of athletes are so vastly different. Never mind, too, that you just don’t seem much interchange between the NFL and Major League Baseball.

“In particular, we talked about scouting backgrounds and player makeup, psychological profiling,” said McLeod, a former Padres executive who’s now with the Chicago Cubs. “He shared some of what the Colts do — their strategies and philosophies, but nothing proprietary — and I told him a bit of what we did in Boston. He came to Fenway once and we sat down and exchanged ideas.

“It was awesome, fascinating, and we were both open to what the other was saying. You need to always be looking for ways to get better. I’ll say this. He’s the only NFL guy I’ve ever had that kind of conversation with.”

The tone of their conversations have altered considerably in one respect. McLeod, a lifelong Chargers fan who grew up in North County, made a point of texting Telesco when they beat the Colts. Seeing that Telesco was being interviewed by the Chargers, McLeod sent a text of elation.